Tick Decline?

[+markp99]

I'm not sure if my observations are correct or meaningful, but I have noticed a pretty drastic decrease in the number of ticks on my clothing/body/elsewhere.

 

It's been at least a few weeks since my last sighting until Monday when I had one scurrying along my arm as I was signing a cache log.

 

Maybe the mosquitos and deer flies have chased them away? Or maybe the extended and very heavy rains here in the northeast have affected them?

 

Any similar observations?

[+sbell111]

I wish we were in your area. If anything, ticks are worse this year as we had a very mild winter (even by local standards).

[+AuntieWeasel]

Geez, not in New England. I've been ticked half to death lately (including several of the tiny, tiny, deadly little buggers).

[+TrailGators]

I wish we were in your area. If anything, ticks are worse this year as we had a very mild winter (even by local standards).

They are worse in our area. I had 26 on me after finding one cache a couple of months ago. That was a new personal best!

[+Jhwk]

Geez, not in New England. I've been ticked half to death lately (including several of the tiny, tiny, deadly little buggers).

We call those "seed ticks" here in the ozarks. I would rather find 50 regular ticks (dog ticks, deer ticks, whatever you might call them) than a single seed tick. Those things just creep me out. I can barely feel them and they are hard to see unless they are moving.

 

ewwwww....

 

We have had little rain here this year, and a very mild winter, but my personal tick count seems low. I usually find one or two now, when I used to find six or seven.

 

Now I have to go take a shower.

[+markp99]

YES, ticks this year have been horrendous here in NH.

 

My observation is that they may be letting up lately.

 

- one can only hope.

[+TeamExtremeMaine]

If I remember correctly, ticks generally let up/become sluggish during the hottest part of the summer. They are most active in late spring and early fall. That may explain the decrease you are seeing lately because the weather is finally getting warm. I've noticed less of them too, but lots more mosquitos the size of small birds!

[+sbell111]

Geez, not in New England. I've been ticked half to death lately (including several of the tiny, tiny, deadly little buggers).

We call those "seed ticks" here in the ozarks. I would rather find 50 regular ticks (dog ticks, deer ticks, whatever you might call them) than a single seed tick. Those things just creep me out. I can barely feel them and they are hard to see unless they are moving.

I'm with you. A few wees ago, I hit a couple of caches, but didn't really get into the woods at all. About an hour after I stopped caching, I was driving home and noticed a tiny tick climbing up my dashboard. I tossed it outside, but spent the rest of the ride home itchy and scratchy.

[+edscott]

I'm not sure if my observations are correct or meaningful, but I have noticed a pretty drastic decrease in the number of ticks on my clothing/body/elsewhere.

 

It's been at least a few weeks since my last sighting until Monday when I had one scurrying along my arm as I was signing a cache log.

 

Maybe the mosquitos and deer flies have chased them away? Or maybe the extended and very heavy rains here in the northeast have affected them?

 

Any similar observations?

 

It's their normal cycle. Lots of them hatch in the spring and go looking for food. It dies down, spikes again in early fall, and then is relatively quiet for the winter.

[+9Key]

Ticks are nasty little creatures, but at least they don't leave horribly itchy little red welts like chiggers.

I haven't seen any ticks here in north Texas (maybe its too dry for them) but the chiggers are beyond belief.

[+W7WT]

I am from Southern Illinois so I know what ticks and chiggers are. I now live in Bremerton, Wa where we do have some skeeters. We made a three week + trip to Southern Illinois taking I 90 but then dropping down to US 20 in NE and IA. Drove from Northern Illinois to Southern Illinois and did a lot of caching going and while there. Came back on I70 through Mo. KS, CO, UT, NV, ID, OR and then home. My biggest concern was ticks but we never saw a one and skeeters were no problem. This was from Memorial Day for about 24 days. We also had beautiful WX except for one night in my hometown we had a thunderstorm. Guess we lucked out. Dick, W7WT BTW we found 174 caches. Not bad for a couple in their 80's.

[+radioscout]

In Europe the number of ticks is increasing dramatically. Cachers who don't use repellants find 10 or more ticks on their skin after one day of geocaching.

And there is no vaccination against the european lime disease.

[+AuntieWeasel]

Ticks are nasty little creatures, but at least they don't leave horribly itchy little red welts like chiggers.

I haven't seen any ticks here in north Texas (maybe its too dry for them) but the chiggers are beyond belief.

Ach! Chiggers! Despite the fact they don't carry diseases, aren't poisonous, and generally represent nothing but itch, I nominate chiggers for the World's Most Evil Parasitical Insect. As an old gentleman remarked to me once, "if'n a chigger was the size of your thumb, it'd've kilt you." Funny, when I lived in chigger-infested territory, I don't recall ever having a serious case. It's only when I moved away and came home to visit. Jeez, I still have scars on my ankles from an infestation ten years ago.

 

And there is no vaccination against the european lime disease.

There's no vaccination against the American form, either. It's the same disease, isn't it? I read somewhere that the Patient Zero of Lyme Disease was in Germany.

 

Whatever. I know more and more people who have tested positive for Lyme, and I'm terrified of having an undiagnosed case (very bad mojo). My doctor doesn't like the test, because it throws off too many false positives, but I make him give me one every year.

[+BadAndy]

Tick sightings in Idaho are most certainly on the increase. After a 15 year drought of never seeing a tick on me, I had one crawl across my neck earlier this year.

 

That's like a 1000% increase in a single day.

[JohnX]

We call those "seed ticks" here in the ozarks. I would rather find 50 regular ticks (dog ticks, deer ticks, whatever you might call them) than a single seed tick. Those things just creep me out. I can barely feel them and they are hard to see unless they are moving.

 

ewwwww....

A friend of mine once got one of those tiny ticks stuck to her eyelid. She had to go to a doctor to get it removed. He asked how it got there and she said she didn't know. He then looked at her and said: "Well, didn't you feel it crawling across your face?"

[+Skillet68]

I went all last year without seeing a tick on me. (Wasn't caching, but was in the woods) This year I find 2-3 every time I go out to the forest.

[+geognerd]

Ugh. Many more ticks and mosquitos than last year. Lots of PI too. Bad enough that I am trying to avoid caches that are in areas likely to have either. That means mostly doing urban caches. Can't wait for late fall and winter, when I can be more omnivorous in terms of caching.

[+Blaidd-Drwg]

Geez, not in New England. I've been ticked half to death lately (including several of the tiny, tiny, deadly little buggers).

We call those "seed ticks" here in the ozarks. I would rather find 50 regular ticks (dog ticks, deer ticks, whatever you might call them) than a single seed tick. Those things just creep me out. I can barely feel them and they are hard to see unless they are moving.

I'm with you. A few wees ago, I hit a couple of caches, but didn't really get into the woods at all. About an hour after I stopped caching, I was driving home and noticed a tiny tick climbing up my dashboard. I tossed it outside, but spent the rest of the ride home itchy and scratchy.

Isn't that the case. I went out Monday and found one on me. I spent the better part of the remainder of the day looking for the little crawling critters. I never found any, but I was sure looking.

[+OzarksJim]

Like Jhwk, I live in the Ozarks as well (Southwest Missouri) and the ticks this year have been worse than I've ever seen. And I'm not even talking about in the woods--I'm talking about my own back yard. I'll usually have a couple ticks on me after mowing the yard with the riding mower.

 

What's REALLY nasty is when the ticks feed on your dogs, get fully engorged, and then fall off inside your house. More than once this year I've seen something that looks like a small grape on the carpet, and it's a fully engorged tick. Fortunately I haven't stepped on them yet, but I've been told it's kind of like stepping on a ketchup packet you get at those fast food places. BLECCHHH!!

[+Henki]

Wow, this is the first year that people down here are reporting seeing ticks. I had never encountered them until we went caching in northern MS in February; the pooch picked up a few.

[rocketmann]

I actually havn't noticed that many ticks in Nebraska this year. Don't know why not. Maybe I just havn't been getting out in the woods enough.

 

Ticks are nasty little creatures, but at least they don't leave horribly itchy little red welts like chiggers.

I haven't seen any ticks here in north Texas (maybe its too dry for them) but the chiggers are beyond belief.

 

I visited a scout camp in the Black Hills in June and the chiggers were horrid there. But yet, like in Texas, there aren't any ticks.

[+ParrotRobAndCeCe]

I'm not sure if my observations are correct or meaningful, but I have noticed a pretty drastic decrease in the number of ticks on my clothing/body/elsewhere.

 

That's because they're all on my dogs.

[+Davispak]

I'm not sure if my observations are correct or meaningful, but I have noticed a pretty drastic decrease in the number of ticks on my clothing/body/elsewhere.

 

It's been at least a few weeks since my last sighting until Monday when I had one scurrying along my arm as I was signing a cache log.

 

Maybe the mosquitos and deer flies have chased them away? Or maybe the extended and very heavy rains here in the northeast have affected them?

 

Any similar observations?

 

Its all the previous visitors to the caches carrying all the ticks out before you get there

[+GPSlug]

Its all the previous visitors to the caches carrying all the ticks out before you get there

Is that what the 'T' in CITO means?

[+Yamahammer]

Ticks are nasty little creatures, but at least they don't leave horribly itchy little red welts like chiggers.

I haven't seen any ticks here in north Texas (maybe its too dry for them) but the chiggers are beyond belief.

 

Yup, no ticks yet this summer. No fleas either on my dogs. But the chigger, ah yes, the chigger. They're thriving right now in Texas.

[PCFrog]

Please come to Wisconsin to get your fair share of ticks. This is the worst summer in 7 years. Our yard is not even safe this year.

[+brodiebunch]

I blame global warming, therefore its George Bush's fault

[+George1]

Just my two cents. I lived in Maryland for 25 years and had a real problem with ticks. I happen to be a "Tick Magnet". We won't even talk about those nasty little Chiggers. Now I live in PA and do a lot of maintenece on the Quehanna Trail. This place is infested with ticks too. The good part is there are no Chiggers in PA. Anyhow I started using these products on my clothes and I never get ticks anymore. The repellents with Permethrin in them will keep Ticks and Chiggers off you. THESE PRODUCTS ARE ONLY FOR ON YOUR CLOTHES!!, NOT YOUR SKIN.. I wear shorts a lot of the time and as long as my clothes are sprayed and I put some insect repellent onl my exposed skin I never get ticks at all. These products have worked for me. There is also a new one at Walmart that I think is called Permanone.

 

I never leave home without clothes that have been treated. It will also last for several washings. I usually mark the tags with a magic marker to indicated that the clothes have been treated.

 

[+khaytsus]

Perhaps TMI... but last year after a hike through the woods (not Geocaching, just hiking) the next morning I got up and went to pee and the stream went two directions. After much confusion, cleaning up what had happened, I examined the.... area.. and found two of the 'seed ticks' right on the business end.

 

I was *not* amused.

[+markp99]

Yup. TMI!

 

Oh, and ouch!@

[+BomberJjr]

Geez, not in New England. I've been ticked half to death lately (including several of the tiny, tiny, deadly little buggers).

 

Yea, I have to say. The ticks have been horrible up here in New England. Surprised I haven't gotten lime disease yet. I actually just found a tick on me this morning, but go figure, I wasn't even geocaching. Even spraying myself down pretty well this past Monday didn't stop one of these little guys from clinging to my leg.

[+Team Cotati]

I used to be bothered by ticks but ever since I began bathing only once per week they have been leaving me alone. Try it, you never can tell.

[+CharlieP]

The bug factor has been lower that normal in recent weeks here in northern Georgia. I think it is because we have had very little rain. My lawn is dying, but at least there are no mosquitos, and few ticks and chiggers. Every silver lining has a dark cloud.

[+Kacky]

We call those "seed ticks" here in the ozarks. I would rather find 50 regular ticks (dog ticks, deer ticks, whatever you might call them) than a single seed tick. Those things just creep me out. I can barely feel them and they are hard to see unless they are moving.

 

ewwwww....

A friend of mine once got one of those tiny ticks stuck to her eyelid. She had to go to a doctor to get it removed. He asked how it got there and she said she didn't know. He then looked at her and said: "Well, didn't you feel it crawling across your face?"

DUH, if she'd have felt it would she have let it get on her eye? What a dumb doctor.

Edited July 7, 2006 by Kacky

[wvmtnrecluse]

Lots of comments about the quantity of ticks.

What are the methods you all use to get them off once they have attached to you?

[+markp99]

The *best* method is with tweezers. Grab just between the head and your skin and pull carefully so you don't leave any small bits behind.

 

I wipe the area with alcohol, then antibiotic cream and a bandaid.

 

The old "match head" approach (so I have read) may cause the little bugger to regurgitate into the wound, increasing your chances of infection.

[+Fish Below The Ice]

I'm not sure if my observations are correct or meaningful, but I have noticed a pretty drastic decrease in the number of ticks on my clothing/body/elsewhere.

 

Maybe the mosquitos and deer flies have chased them away? Or maybe the extended and very heavy rains here in the northeast have affected them?

Perhaps they're being suffocated by all the excess poison ivy.

 

dave